Reception score things again - this seems a bit stupid

[runoutofnameideas]

I'm not worried about this but am a bit perplexed.

Reception dd has been reading turquoise book band (average for start year 2?) books from school, reads them very well and guess what she got in her literacy score.....8.

She is very able at maths, more than her reading I have been told by the teacher. She only got an 8 in that too.

What do you have to do to get a 9 then in her class?

Could it be because she's at the older end for the year (November bday?)

I reckon Einstein would not have got a 9 in her class.

Well done for producing a clever child.

Thanks for the sarcastic response. It is a genuine question - I'm perplexed and think these scores are stupid if this is the case.

What would be the point of boasting on an anonymous website? I don't get that.

maybe they aren't only based on reading a book. i expect they take into consideration things like comprehension, re-telling the story, reading other htings during school time.... maybe she is good at reading direct from a book, but lacking in comprehension or something?

or maybe she is "just" clever and not gifted iyswim?
maybe the 9's and 10's are for those children who are downright exceptional?

if 5 is the average then i think 8 is a good score for an above average child?

I wouldn't think they'd be based on something like whether a child is 'gifted' or clever as they are just terms and subjective anyway.

You could be right about comprehension but then if so they should have flagged that in the wordy bit which was very glowing. Her comprehension seems good, great expression too.

My cynical side thinks it could be political - they might have been told not to give 9s as it makes it harder to show added value next year?

It is of course a. a good score I agree and b. not going to end up on her cv before anyone flames me.

well yes but what i mean is, your implication is that your child is very clever (at reading) and i am saying that maybe a child needs to be more than just really good at reading to reach a 9 or 10?

why don't you ask them?

There is no such thing as 10. I'm sure your dd would have got a 9 from my dd's teacher. It sounds like they are avoiding giving them - probably to show progress by KS1 tests...

ahh sorry, i have no idea what this even is, ours haven't been scored on anything you see! i just assumed it went up to 10

oops runout - our names are very similar. Sorry - happy to change if it matters as this is new for me?

This was only a score for reading so other things are not relevant. The score for numeracy was separate.

op - has she missed out one of the 4-8 steps? They must get all the steps before they can get a 9. However getting a 7 is no 'higher' than getting a 6, steps 4-8 are not part of a ladder. They tend to have already met steps 1-3 early in the year it seems. If you see what I mean.

So have a good look at her profile, then google the early years foundation profile handbook and read through it. It all begins to make more sense then. Well, a bit.

The profile scores have nothing to do with what reading scheme book a child is on (this is the anomaly that is EYFS) in order to achieve all 9 points the child would need to be observed to be reading a variety of texts (not reading scheme books alone) independently without being asked to by an adult...

I had 4 children reading gold book band at the end of reception but only one chose to read books of a similar difficulty independently

EYFS is rather, er, odd isn't it? It seemed to fit in really well with preschool. Now in school school it looks, well, odd.

Or maybe children this age look odd in school

That must be the answer MRZ. By jove you've cracked it!

I reckon she might not pick up books to read at school (or maybe not often enough for the teacher to see) although she loves reading at home and when asked to at school.

How strange is that though! EYFS moves in mysterious ways.

It's the same with maths the child must be seen to be applying what they know independently in their chosen play to solve problems

I think we are suffering with this one too mrz. DD2 loves to be gven a page of sums. She can do addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. She uses pictures in her head, fingers and toes if needed .

Her report says she needs to work practically to develop her skills in addition and subtraction. I can't see her bothering because a) she feels no need to count beans and b) she gets it.

Maybe there is something to be said for simply setting a task, seeing if they can do it, and taking it from there!

treedelivery teachers are suffering too. They know a child is capable of doing x,y and z but they must provide evidence that a child is applying it independently for moderators

Sounds the pits mate. My sympathies!

It is the pits! The latest from the EY advisors in my county is that children in Reception shouldn't be gathered together and 'taught', all they do should come from their interests. Then, we, the adults should plan around that! WTF????? To make matters worse they are telling our feeder preschools that we don't ever gather them together, so they shouldn't and visa versa!!! After over 20 years teaching I'm ready to get out if they seriously think that letting children wander around until Year 1, doing what they like, is the way forward!!!! I have one child who would have spent a year on the carpet playing with the Duplo, trains and cars! His parents would have been delighted if I'd let him do that for a year!

Mrz - are they allowed to pretty much lead them to the activity though? My dd's school seems to manage it by say setting up a maths board game on a table and saying "OK Elephant Group time for you to have a go on that table now." Because they are not being watched over by an adult, are they then doing it independently?

What annoys me are the disruptive ones who say nasty things to other kids and push them about but score really high on personal, social and emotional development because they can identify that they shouldn't have done something, then do it again the next day.

runoutofnameideas - Don't worry about the name thing....unless you are about to start abusing people and causing fights....I try not to cause any rows

i don't know why thereh ave to be such strict rules on how children are taught

some children will thrive in a play-based child-led environment
others, such as my eldest, really need to be encouraged and prefer a far more structured approach.

he really struggled going into reception after being in a private nursery for this reason

why can't we trust teachers to teach our children in a way that suits them???
the main thing IMO, is that children learn, and most importantly enjoy learning. any one-size-fits-all approach is doomed to fail a lot of the children surely?

I think the friction comes from the massively opposing messages parents and teachers hear from EY and the NC. It seems to swing from play based learning to some sort of victorian sats hot house in the blink of a summer holiday!

Treedelivery I think you are right. Why can we not have some combination of the two involving free play and structured activities until the children are a bit older - thus suiting all different learning styles and abilities?

Runoutofideas technically it is an adult activity not initiated by the child so should only count for 20% of the evidence towards awarding the point (which is where some of the discrepancy nationally comes from)

Good grief it's so complicated. Surely it doesn't need to be so complicated and tedious?